. The culture of flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco. 30 BULLETIN Ifi, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. In seasons of normal growth, under the conditions existing in the Old Belt, when all the leaves of the plant mature at approximately the same time, quite likely the crop may be most economically and satisfactorily harvested by cutting the entire plant at one time. But when, as in 1912, a prolonged drought causes the bottom leaves to turn yellow and waste away while the top leaves are still quite green, there can be no question that it is much better to prime off the leaves as they ripen, as was act
. The culture of flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco. 30 BULLETIN Ifi, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. In seasons of normal growth, under the conditions existing in the Old Belt, when all the leaves of the plant mature at approximately the same time, quite likely the crop may be most economically and satisfactorily harvested by cutting the entire plant at one time. But when, as in 1912, a prolonged drought causes the bottom leaves to turn yellow and waste away while the top leaves are still quite green, there can be no question that it is much better to prime off the leaves as they ripen, as was actually done by many growers. If priming had been universally followed in that year, undoubtedly it would have saved many thousands of dollars to the tobacco growers of the Old Belt section. Figures 9 and 10 show characteristic har- vestinjr scenes in the New Belt and Old Belt I'li;, 'J.—'iu; ..vest in the Now Belt section. StrinjrlnK ilie |ii leii\-es under tlie shade of a tree. CURING AND HANDLING. The expert curer exhibits his skill from the very first, as he begins to harvest the crop. He cuts or jDrimes, having clearly in mind what he expects to accomplish in making the cure. For a uniform curing of good color, a first requisite is that the barn be filled with plants or leaves of uniform ripeness and character. The first step in curing is to yellow the leaf propei'ly. This takes place while the plant is yet living but is slowly approaching death fnmi starvation, since the food and moisture supply is cut oil'. To expose too long to the sun and air after cutting, even though actual sunburning docs not result, greatly diminislics the vitality of the cells of the leaf and it will not yelh>w so well. The toliacco shoidd, therefore, be housed without excessive wilting or long exposure to the sun and Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttobacco, bookyear1913
